Beyond the Veil
by Ridicully L
Summary: After the musical Elisabeth Even in death, Sissi cannot escape her tragic fate... Dedicated to my friend Vivienna and all lovers of the musical Elisabeth!
1. The Wake

Sypnosis- Even in death, Sissi cannot escape her tragic fate…

Disclaimer:

The musical production "Elisabeth" is directed by Harry Kupfer.  
Story and lyrics in the "Elisabeth" musical belongs to Michael Kunze.  
Sissi belongs to herself.  
We all belong to Der Tod!

This fic is dedicated to my friend Vivienna! Thanks so much for introducing me to the musical- life is good again with all this wonderful music! The story is inspiring as well, my only complaint is you have left a gaping emptiness in my soul (which will be filled up when I finally get to see the show in Vienna, I reckon!)

This fic is also dedicated to any Elisabeth lovers out here! I hope no one gets offended by the format. I find it more comfortable to use a script format because that's how I learnt about the story.

* * *

**Beyond the Veil- The Wake**

(Scene 1: A bedroom in the castle of Death's domain… Elisabeth is lying in a glided coffin. She has been busy dying yesterday and is now sleeping soundly. Some figures approach her silently…)

ELISABETH (to herself):  
My God, I'm so tired… it must have been all that totentanz I did with der Tod yesterday… what a night! Great music, great dancing, and great sex- who says dying isn't cool? And the best thing about it is, I can sleep as long as I like and not…

FIGURE:  
Wake up!

ELISABETH (still dreaming):  
That voice… it sounds familiar- impossible!…

(The second figure shakes Elisabeth's shoulders. The ex-empress's eyelids flutter open and she gives a gasp (before remembering she no longer needs to breathe) as she beholds Archduchess SOPHIE, a restless dead.)

SOPHIE:  
My dear, you can't sleep in for so long!

ELISABETH (disbelieving):  
But I'm tired!… And…dead!

SOPHIE:  
So am I… Just because you're dead doesn't mean you have to sleep like one, my dear!

ELISABETH:  
But…

(Two other restless dead, Sophie's handmaidens, yanks Elisabeth out of her coffin.)

SOPHIE:  
Your hair's a mess! And this dress is completely inappropriate!

ELISABETH (incredulously):  
Well? What's inappropriate about it?

SOPHIE:  
You are the Empress of Death now, not the Empress of Austria! Therefore, you have to wear something more fitting for your position- I think plain black leather should do nicely!

(For the first time, Sissi notices that her ex-mother-in-law is wearing a slick black leather jacket and tights that are normally sold in kinky shops (the kind that comes with a whip, and handcuffs, etc…).)

ELISABETH (defiant):  
But I don't want to wear that! It looks ridiculous! I'd rather die-AAAAHHHHH!

SOPHIE:  
An Empress must shine and do her duty, which is sacrificing herself to keep this dynasty… er… dead… GET HER DRESS CHANGED!

ELISABETH (despairing):  
Help me der Tod my mother-in-law is torturing me… AGAIN!

* * *

(Scene 2: The courtyard of Death. DEATH has just returned from his, for want of a better word, work. The angels of death are unloading the dead from his carriage.) 

DEATH (sings seductively):  
Elisabeth, come out and join me,  
I am longing so much for you  
Don't let me wait…

(Two of his angels collapse due to nosebleed at the end of the song… Ex-Archduchess Sophie approaches.)

SOPHIE:  
Majesty, it is time to hold court!

DEATH:  
What's that?… I'm not your son! Now leave me alone and rest in peace!

SOPHIE:  
I can't rest in peace because I like to help people run their kingdoms! The dead are restless, your majesty! They want you to address their grievances so that they can have eternal sleep!

DEATH (grumbles to himself):  
Damn, I shouldn't have killed her…

(The dead Cardinal Archbishop Rau enters.)

RAU:  
Majesty, the dead are disappointed because there is no Heaven or Hell!

DEATH:  
Who cares?

SOPHIE:  
Outrageous!

RAU:  
Majesty, the Holy Church wishes to have supervision of the dead's spiritual guidance!

DEATH (yawns):  
Whatever…

SOPHIE (glares at Death and mutters to herself):  
You're even worse than Franz Josef!

EVERYONE IN COURT:  
He gives everybody what s/he deserves  
He does everything for our posthumous good  
God Save and Protect our Death!

(The Archbishop exits. A dead mother enters.)

MOTHER:  
Majesty, my son is held in a concentration camp and longs for death!

SOPHIE:  
Serves these Jews right!

MOTHER:  
Mercy, Mercy, please go and end his torture! Give him eternal peace!

(Death checks his organizer.)

DEATH:  
How about… next Monday?

SOPHIE:  
Impossible! Next Monday you have to take care of that plague in Egypt! Declined!

DEATH (annoyed):  
**I **am supposed to decide!

SOPHIE:  
Be cold… be hard…

DEATH (at a loss for words):  
……….

(The wailing mother is dragged out.)

SOPHIE:  
What do we have next?

(The dead Prince Sch… who can remember his name anyway enters.)

PRINCE:  
Majesty, here's the assessment of the political situation: World War I is on the brink of eruption- We must choose whether we side with Germany or Russia to reap the most dead!

SOPHIE:  
Tell us the details.

PRINCE:  
Russia has more troops, but Germany has better weapons! An alliance in any case will be fatal… for one of them, at any rate…

SOPHIE:  
The Emperor of Death can take _both_ Germany and Russia!

DEATH (furious):  
Damn you, that's MY line!

SOPHIE:  
I beat you to it! Haha!

CHORUS:  
He gives everybody what s/he deserves  
He does everything for our posthumous good  
God Save and Protect our Death!

* * *

_(To be continued)_


	2. History Repeats?

Sypnosis - What's the point of being dead if life goes on the same as before?

Disclaimer:

The musical production "Elisabeth" is directed by Harry Kupfer.  
Story and lyrics in the "Elisabeth" musical belongs to Michael Kunze.  
Sissi belongs to herself.  
We all belong to Der Tod!

This fic is dedicated to my friend Vivienna! Thank you thank you thank you for everything!

* * *

**History Repeats?**

(Scene 3: Outside Elisabeth's bedroom. Death has decided to leave the running of the court to Sophie - after all, he is only interested in destruction, not reigning. He now goes to Elisabeth's room.)

DEATH (sings with voice dripping eroticism):  
Elisabeth, please open the door to me,  
Your lover longs for you,  
Let me be with you.  
Behind me is a morbid day,  
Deaths are neverending,  
Red Cross is defying me openly;  
Executions, massacres and influenza,  
War in Phillippines and a shipwreck in Maine…  
Let me raise storm in your port,  
Drown you in my waves of desire for one night…  
Please open up to me, and don't let me wait  
Be the woman who understands me...Elisabeth!

(The other two angels of death following him pitch forward due to nosebleed… but Elisabeth does not open the door.)

ELISABETH (coldly):  
Why take me here when you know my mother-in-law is here as well? How dare you!

DEATH:  
My love…

ELISABETH:  
Don't give me that!

DEATH:  
What did she do?

ELISABETH:  
She made me wear a leather suit!

DEATH:  
You can wear anything you like, Elisabeth!

(He snaps his fingers and she is once again dressed in her original clothes.)

ELISABETH (bitter):  
That's not good enough! I don't want to see… her… again! I just want to rest in peace!

DEATH:  
Please understand, Elisabeth… I have sent her to the living world to haunt the castles of Europe, but the ghosts there threw her out so she came back.

ELISABETH (regaining hope):  
So there is a way out of here? Then I give you this ultimatum- since you can't get rid of my mother-in-law, let me get away from this place or never see me again- Make your choice!

DEATH (starting to feel a little sympathy for Franz Josef)  
……

(defeated)

All right, I accept your conditions.  
You have my permission to leave this place.

(Elisabeth opens the door - thanks to a whole day spent on beauty care Death is almost knocked out by the perfume.)

ELISABETH (smiling radiantly):  
Really?

DEATH (moving closer to Sissi):  
However, you must come back at the 11th hour every day.

ELISABETH (moves up to him smiling):  
Why?

DEATH (toying with Sissi's floor-length hair):  
Because, my love, that is the time I come back here.

ELISABETH (pulling her hair away):  
So… how do I get out of here?

DEATH:  
There is a horse in the stable you can use… you can go anywhere you want on it.

ELISABETH (entrancingly):  
Anywhere?

DEATH (nibbles her ear playfully):  
Yes… except… you must not enter the topmost room of this castle's highest tower.

ELISABETH (falls into Death's embrace happily):  
I know you will give me freedom…

(They kiss madly and she starts unbuttoning Death's trenchcoat. A brick suddenly smashes the bedroom window and a figure climbs in. It is the dead anarchist LUCHENI.)

ELISABETH (shocked):  
You!

LUCHENI (to Death):  
I heard Elisabeth is the Empress… again! NOOOOO! It can't be! You promised me that the world of Death will be ruled by anarchists, revolutionaries and the People's Government! (wails hysterically)

DEATH (coldly):  
I lied….

LUCHENI (starts laughing maniacally):  
I'm sick of being crushed under the heel of monarchy! Down with Death! Power to the People! But first, down with Elisabeth!

(He lunges at Elisabeth with a file- but before he can get to her, Death's heel of monarchy has snapped up and kicked him out of the window.)

LUCHENI:  
AHHHHHHHHHHH- KITSCHHH!

(He screams as he falls 3000 m down to whatever it is that Death built his kingdom on- but being dead already, he'll probably just be stiff for the next couple of days…)

ELISABETH (somewhat shaken):  
Isn't he the man who killed me? Why is he here?

DEATH (drawing Elisabeth to him again):  
Suicide, my love… Don't worry- I made sure it was painful.

ELISABETH:  
All right… shall we resume?

(Death starts unlacing Elisabeth's corset… There's a knock at the door.)

DEATH (sinisterly):  
Who wants to die again?

(The door opens to reveal the deceased Crown Prince RUDOLF, crying and clutching his teddy bear tightly.)

RUDOLF (wide-eyed and disheveled):  
Mama, where are you? It's so cold here!  
Everyone says I shouldn't disturb you and I don't know why.  
Please hold me so that I can fall asleep!

(Normally Sissi would have been happy to see to her son… but why does Rudolf have to come at such an inopportune time?)

ELISABETH (embarrassed):  
Can we talk later, Rudolf? Can't you see I'm busy?

RUDOLF (cries out in despair):  
So you abandon me again?

(He shoots himself in the head with a pistol and falls lifelessly to the floor- but since he's already dead, it'll probably just give him a headache for a few hours...)

ELISABETH (shaken):  
You don't have to do that- I told you we'll talk later!

(Death closes the door and locks it this time.)

DEATH (magnetically):  
For now, you belong to me!

(They kiss madly again and Elisabeth rips off Death's shirt. There is a crash- the door is knocked down, and a dead PROFESSOR, JOURNALIST, STUDENT, BOHEMIAN and POET enter.)

ELISABETH (murderously):  
What's this disturbance? What do you want this time?

PROFESSOR:  
It's bloody boring here! There's nothing in the news at all! I want the latest gossip!

BOHEMIAN:  
We're tired of sitting in the café cheerfully waiting for nothing!

STUDENT:  
I heard we have an empress at last!

JOURNALIST:  
Why doesn't she show herself?

POET:  
Too long have we waited for an heir to the throne!

ELISABETH and DEATH (disbelieving):  
What?

JOURNALIST (with sudden recognition):  
My God, it's Sissi! Can I take a photograph?

(Before he can reach for his camera, Elisabeth has picked up Lucheni's file and started stabbing them with it.)

ELISABETH (shrieking):  
Go! I don't want you! I don't need you! Go!

POET (runs away screaming):  
_Herrlich Exzentrisch! (1) _

BOHEMIAN (likewise runs away screaming):  
_Schön decadent! (2)_

ELISABETH (wrathfully):  
Death is too good for the likes of you!

(After having checked to see no one else is outside, she turns back to Death- but he has disappeared. The clock just struck twelve so he has to go back to his work in the living world... Poor Sissi!)

ELISABETH (breaks down weeping):  
No! Why do I have to fall in love with someone who can only give me an hour a day… again? Why doesn't anything in my life _change_?

(Footnotes:)

(1) Wonderfully Eccentric

(2) Beautifully Decadent

* * *

(Scene 4: The Living World. Elisabeth has decided to get away from the all-too-familiar people around her. She is riding around in the mortal world on the horse Death gave her.) 

(She suddenly notices Death's carriage parked outside a peculiar establishment… and walks in to find Death embracing a prostitute and kissing her on the lips.)

ELISABETH (screams in horror):  
SCANDALOUS! Even _you_ are unfaithful to me!

DEATH (in panic):  
Elisabeth, it is not what you think! I must give them the kiss of death for them to DIE!

ELISABETH (haughtily):  
I'm sick of excuses! Leave me alone! I never want you to touch me again!

(She rides off on her horse. Death drops the body and follows…)

* * *

(Scene 5: somewhere in the countryside.) 

(Sissi has tried to completely exhaust herself by riding, before realizing…)

ELISABETH:  
Strange… why am I not feeling tired at all? I am not even out of breath! Wait, I am not **breathing **!

(As she contemplates this, the horse approaches a high wall that she notices too late. She tries to make the jump anyway.)

ELISABETH (to herself):  
Too late! I'm going to crash…!

(To her amazement, the horse vaults clear over the wall… and doesn't come back down.)

ELISABETH (Amazed):  
Impossible! We're floating…

(She falls off her horse in terror and lands on thin air.)

ELISABETH (sadly):  
My God… I'm floating as well! Great… no more gymnastics for me! What on earth should I do to stop myself from thinking too much? It's not much fun being a ghost… perhaps I should go back to the realm of der Tod… but I don't want to see him!

(The horse continues walking in mid-air. Sissi makes up her mind and rides back to the World of Death.)

* * *

(Scene 6: The World of Death) 

ELISABETH:  
Der Tod mentioned a room I must not enter… perhaps it is a way out? I shall go in and have a look- whatever happens to me, it sure can't be worse than now!

(She spurs her horse on to fly to the window of the topmost room of the tower and climbs in. There is nothing in the room apart from a hole in the floor that has smoke coming out from it.)

ELISABETH:  
Is this the way to Paradise? Or Inferno?…

(Sings softly):

I have lived and died,  
I fell in love and out with Death,  
But whatever I did,  
I was always loyal to myself  
to give the world away,  
the meaning of my life/death…

(Thinks to herself): Heaven or Hell… here I come!

(She lets herself drop down the hole. A second later, Death bursts into the room through the door, which has the word "Reinkarnation" written on it.)

DEATH (cries out in despair):  
Nooooo! You belong to me!

ELISABETH (sings triumphantly):  
... denn ich gehör nur mir!

THE END

(I hope you like this ending… I've always thought Sissi should only belong to herself!)

* * *

Epilogue- what happened to those who are still dead 

_Archduchess Sophie-_

Finally rests in peace after she was overthrown by a revolution.

_Lucheni-_

Overthrew Sophie in a revolution with the help of the Les Miserables cast, and established the People's Government of Death. He wants to overthrow Death as well, but since Death can't be replaced he gave the title of "constitutional monarch" to the supernatural entity, who does not care as long as he gets to do his old job and keep the carriage.

_Prince Rudolf-_

Is able to rest in peace after being befriended by Princess Di.

_Der Tod (who is not dead)-_

Has never fallen in love again.

* * *


End file.
